The present invention relates to an insect robot capable of autonomously performing an action, such as movement with six legs, in action space so as to simulate the behavior of an actual insect, and more particularly, to an insect robot improved so as to be able to move in a vivid and realistic fashion, as if it were an actually living insect, in response to an environmental state associated with lightness of the action space, an environmental state associated with an obstacle, or the like, and in response to a type of another insect robot close thereto.
Insect robots capable of autonomously moving with six legs in action space so as to simulate behavior of actual insects are used as popular toys. One of such insect robots is that which is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8-57159 and which is publicly known as xe2x80x9cSix-Leg Kabteriusxe2x80x9d available from Bandai Co., Ltd.
Toy robots are also popular which start to behave or change behavior in response to an environmental state in action space. One of such toy robots is that which is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-33786 and which is publicly known as xe2x80x9cFlower Rockxe2x80x9d available from Takara Co., Ltd.
Furthermore, toy robots are also publicly known which identify another robot in action space and change its behavior depending on the result of identification. One of such toy robots is that which is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-7553 and which is publicly known as xe2x80x9cFurbyxe2x80x9d available from Tomy Co., Ltd.
In the conventional toy robots, a microcomputer disposed in a robot performs a sequence of programs during which environmental state information of action space or identification information of another robot is detected by sensors and input into the microcomputer as the input information whereby a type of motion of the robot as a whole is switched into another type of motion thereof as a whole by means of processing the input information through the total performance of a sequence of programs, and thus, the number of types of switchable motion as a whole is very limited. Thus, the manner of switching over the action patterns is too simple to simulate behavior of an actual insect which performs various combinations of a large number of action patterns in response to an environmental state or in response to detection of another insect, and thus it is difficult to express vivid and realistic behavior of an insect. If it is tried to improve the manner of switching over the action patterns such that many types of action patterns become available, the result is an increase in the complexity of a sequence of computer programs. Thus, it is an object of the present invention according to claims 1 to 8 to solve such a problem.
Furthermore, in the conventional technique, in response to information representing an environmental state detected by various types of sensors or in response to detection of another robot, the motion of the robot as a whole is sequentially switched over in accordance with a substantially fixed algorithm prepared for the specific robot, and thus the character of the insect robot defined by the correspondence between the behavior of the insect robot and the environmental state or the identification information of the insect robot is, at least at the level of the individual insect robots, prefixed in accordance with a predetermined algorithm. Thus, it is difficult to change the character of the insect robot from time to time so as to reflect the will of a user. This makes the insect robot less attractive as a hobby toy because of the lack of a sense of game. Thus, it is another object of the present invention according to claims 9 to 16 to solve such a problem.
The problem of the conventional toy robots, resulting from the simple behavior pattern depending on the environmental state or detection of another insect robot is solved by, in aspects of the invention according to claims 1 to 5, selecting one action unit from a plurality of action units depending on the environmental state; in aspects of the invention according to claims 6 to 7, selecting one inter-robot action unit from a plurality of inter-robot action units in accordance with identification information associated with another insect robot; in an aspect of the invention according to claim 8, selecting a xe2x80x9ccowardxe2x80x9d-type action unit or a xe2x80x9crecklessxe2x80x9d-type action unit in accordance with the selection priority assigned to the action units or the inter-robot action units, thereby, without recourse to sophisticated and large-scale computer programs, achieving various combinations of a large number of behavior patterns depending on the environmental state and/or in response to detection of another insect robot, and thus providing an insect robot capable of behaving in a vivid and realistic manner.
Furthermore, the problem of the conventional insect robots in terms of being not attractive enough as a hobby toy caused by the lack of a sense of game due to the fixed character of the insect robot is solved by, in aspects of the present invention according to claims 9 to 12, arbitrarily setting, by a user, an instruction unit arrangement including combinations of one sensor identifying unit and one or more action units so as to sequentially select correspondences between the action unit and the sensor identifying unit depending on the external state; in an aspect of the present invention according to claim 13, determining a sensor identifying unit in accordance with an other""s pheromone signal of another insect robot, a notification pheromone signal, or a space pheromone signal; in an aspect of the present invention according to claim 14, arbitrarily selecting, by the user, a special command xe2x80x9cswitch to another panelxe2x80x9d provided in an action unit thereby switching the execution from an instruction unit of the present panel to an instruction unit of another panel; in an aspect of the present invention according to claim 15, arbitrarily setting, by the user, a xe2x80x9csensor identifying unit xe2x80x9ctrigger after elapse of a particular period of timexe2x80x9d such that the sensor identifying unit is determined in response to a trigger signal generated at specified xe2x80x9cparticular intervalsxe2x80x9d; in the aspect of the invention according to claim 16, transferring an instruction unit set by the user using the instruction unit setting means on a mobile computer to the instruction unit storage means in the insect robot; thereby making it possible to change the character of the insect robot from time to time in accordance with the will of the user, and thus the insect robot becomes very attractive As a hobby toy.
In the aspects of the present invention according to claims 1 to 5, as shown in a claim-correspondence diagram of FIG. 32A, an environmental state detection means A detects an obstacle in the action space and outputs an obstacle state signal as the environmental state signal and also detects lightness in the action space and outputs a lightness state signal as the environmental state signal; a plurality of action unit means B respectively define one of xe2x80x9cforward movementxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cbackward movementxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cright turnxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cleft turnxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cstopxe2x80x9d as a type of actions of the insect robot and also define the duration and the execution speed of the defined action; an action unit selection means C selects one of the plurality of action unit means B in accordance with the selection priority preassigned to the respective action unit means B; an action unit execution means D drives motors serving as actuators 13 and 14, respectively, in each of driving modes, xe2x80x9cforward rotationxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9creverse rotationxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cstopxe2x80x9d, preassigned to each type of actions xe2x80x9cforward movementxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cbackward movementxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cright turnxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cleft turnxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cstopxe2x80x9d with a duty ratio corresponding to the execution speed of an action being executed for the duration of the action; and leg means 8 and 9 are moved by actuators 13 and 14 driven by the action unit execution means D so that the insect robot performs the action for the duration of the action.
In the aspects of the present invention according to claims 6 and 7, as shown in a claim-correspondence diagram of FIG. 32A, a pheromone signal transmitting means E transmits, into the action space as a transmission pheromone signal, a pheromone signal representing identification information uniquely preassigned to the insect robot; a pheromone signal receiving means F receives a pheromone signal transmitted from a pheromone signal transmitting means E of another insect robot present in the action space as a reception pheromone signal, the pheromone signal representing identification information uniquely preassigned to said another insect robot; an inter-robot behavioral relationship identifying means G identifies an inter-robot behavioral relationship predefined between the insect robot itself and said another insect robot, on the basis of the identification information associated with another insect robot represented by the received pheromone signal and the identification information associated with the insect robot itself; a plurality of inter-robot action unit means H respectively define one of xe2x80x9cforward movementxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cthreatxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cgreetingxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cescapexe2x80x9d as a type of the inter-robot action of the insect robot itself and also define the duration and execution speed of the defined inter-robot action; an inter-robot action unit selection means I selects one inter-robot action unit means H from the plurality of inter-robot action unit means H in accordance with the inter-robot behavioral relationship identified by the inter-robot behavioral relationship identifying means G; an inter-robot action unit execution means J drives the actuators 13 and 14 so as to execute the inter-robot action defined by an inter-robot action unit H selected by the inter-robot action unit selection means I for the duration of the inter-robot action; and leg means 8 and 9 are moved by actuators 13 and 14 driven by the inter-robot action unit execution means J so that the insect robot performs the inter-robot action for the duration of the inter-robot action.
In the aspect of the present invention according to claim 8, as shown in a claim-correspondence diagram of FIG. 32A, the action unit selection means C set so as to serve as the xe2x80x9ccowardxe2x80x9d-type action unit selection means selects one action unit means B or one inter-robot action unit means H from the plurality of action unit means B or the plurality of inter-robot action unit means H in accordance with the selection priorities predefined for the xe2x80x9ccowardxe2x80x9d type with respect to the respective action unit means B and the respective inter-robot action unit means H, and the action unit selection means C set so as to serve as the xe2x80x9crecklessxe2x80x9d-type action unit selection means selects one action unit means B or one inter-robot action unit means H from the plurality of action unit means B or the plurality of inter-robot action unit means H in accordance with the selection priorities predefined for the xe2x80x9crecklessxe2x80x9d type with respect to the respective action unit means B and the respective inter-robot action unit means H.
In the aspects of the present invention according to claims 9 to 12, as shown in a claim-correspondence diagram of FIG. 32B, an external state detection means AA outputs, as an external state signal, an obstacle state signal generated in response to detection of an obstacle in the action space, a lightness state signal generated on the basis of detected lightness of the action space, a contact-with-obstacle state signal generated in response to detection of contact with an obstacle present in the action space, and a constraint state signal in response to detecting that the insect robot is in a constraint state in the action space; a sensor identification unit determining means K determines a sensor identifying unit in accordance with the external state signal; and an instruction unit setting means L sets one or more instruction units which are designed for connecting at least one or more sensor identifying units to one or more action units defining a type of each action and the duration. In particular, in the aspect of the invention according to claim 12, the instruction unit setting means L sets an instruction unit such that an action unit in the instruction unit presently set is designed for defining the permission/prohibition of interruption of a current action unit in the instruction unit to execute another action unit; an instruction unit storage means M stores one or more instruction units set by the instruction unit setting means L so that one or more instruction units are individually readable; an action unit sequentially selecting means N sequentially selects one or more action units connected to one sensor identifying unit, in reference to one instruction unit further including the sensor identifying unit determined by the sensor identification unit determining means K. In particular, in the aspect of the invention according to claim 11, a preferential action unit selection means o preferentially selecting an action unit in the midst of the execution of an action unit in an instruction unit, so that if an action unit in another instruction unit including another sensor identifying unit determined by the sensor identification unit determining means K has a higher preassigned selection priority than that of the action unit being currently executed, the action unit in said another instruction is preferentially selected instead of the action unit being currently executed. In the aspect of the invention according to claim 12, the preferential action unit selection means O preferentially selects an action unit so that, when the above conditions are satisfied, if and only if the interrupt of a current action unit to execute another action unit is permitted, an action unit in another instruction unit is preferentially selected instead of the current action unit; the action unit execution means D drives an actuator so that an action defined by an action unit selected by the action unit sequentially selecting means N is executed for a duration assigned to the action; and the leg means 8 and 9 are moved by the actuators 13 and 14 driven by the action unit execution means D so that the insect robot performs the above action for the duration assigned to the action.
In the aspect of the present invention according to claim 13, as shown in a claim-correspondence diagram of FIG. 32B, the pheromone signal transmitting means E transmits, as a transmission pheromone signal, a self pheromone signal representing self identification information uniquely preassigned to the insect robot itself in the action space or a notification pheromone signal representing notification information indicating a type of an action unit that can be set by the instruction unit setting means L; the pheromone signal receiving means F receives, as a reception pheromone signal, an other""s pheromone signal representing the other""s identification information uniquely preassigned to another insect robot, from the pheromone signal transmitting means E of said another insect robot present in the action space, a notification pheromone signal representing notification information indicating a type of a given action unit, or a space pheromone signal present in the action space; and the sensor identification unit determining means K determines sensor identifying units xe2x80x9cpresence of another insect robot of a particular typexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cpheromone signal receptionxe2x80x9d in accordance with the reception pheromone signal. In the aspect of the present invention according to claim 14, as shown in a claim-correspondence diagram of FIG. 32B, the instruction unit setting means L includes, as a type of an action in an instruction unit to be set, a special command xe2x80x9cswitch to another panelxe2x80x9d to switch the execution from one or more instruction units constituting a panel to one or more instruction units constituting another panel; the instruction unit storage means M stores panels each including one or more instruction units in accordance with a panel designation signal such that any of the panels is individually readable; the action unit sequentially selecting means N selects the special command xe2x80x9cswitch to another panelxe2x80x9d included in one or more action units connected to the one sensor identifying unit; and, when the special command xe2x80x9cswitch to another panelxe2x80x9d is selected by the action unit sequentially selecting means N, panel designation signal generating means R generates a panel designation signal in accordance with the designation of another panel by the command.
In the aspect of the present invention according to claim 15, as shown in a claim-correspondence diagram of FIG. 32B, the instruction unit setting means L includes, as one type of action to be set in an instruction unit, a sensor identifying unit xe2x80x9ctrigger after elapse of a particular period of timexe2x80x9d for outputting a trigger signal when a predetermined trigger period has elapsed; the instruction unit storage means M stores the instruction unit including the sensor identifying unit xe2x80x9ctrigger after elapse of a particular period of timexe2x80x9d such that the instruction unit is individually and sequentially readable; a trigger signal generating means Q counts a lapse of a particular period of time defined by the sensor identifying unit xe2x80x9ctrigger after elapse of a particular period of timexe2x80x9d read from the instruction unit storage means M and generates a trigger signal when the particular period of time has elapsed; and the sensor identification unit determining means K determines the sensor identifying unit xe2x80x9ctrigger after elapse of a particular period of timexe2x80x9d in accordance with the trigger signal.
In the aspect of the present invention according to claim 16, as shown in a claim-correspondence diagram of FIG. 32B, the instruction unit setting means L is implemented on a mobile computer disposed separately from the insect robot; and the instruction unit storage means M stores one or more instruction units set by the instruction unit setting means L and transmitted via a instruction unit transmitting means P such that said one or more instruction units are individually and sequentially readable.